It's Coming Back
Work is crushing me like a vice lately which can be both a good and bad thing. Good because the day goes fast and bad because my days are long when I have to stay late. I believe Wednesday marked the final end of my being sick. Colds linger now because as soon as I feel slightly better I push myself. I think that's OK for the most part. Who can afford to wait until they feel 100% to get back on the horse?
Today was another spin in the current fog engulfing New Jersey. This weather is oppressive. It doesn't usually last that long but when it's here it sucks. For the second day in a row I was swimming on the bike, sweating profusely at 5:30 in the morning. The subway stations are like steam chambers.
I wanted to bite off a bit more than yesterday so I set my alarm for 5:00 then hit snooze and then proceeded to sit on the couch after I did finally get up then went in the basement and adjusted the hub I'm working on then took out the recycle bin. By the time I got rolling it was 5:35 so my time limit was 1:10. I decided to just go out 512 for 30 minutes and turn around.
On the hub, the races are a hair buggy so it's not going to spin like butter. Getting it *juuuuuuust* right is always a pain in the ass but if you're not going to do that then why bother? Even Zinn says in The Book that he never gets it right on the first try. Too tight and it grinds. Too loose and, well, it's too loose. I don't think the hub is trash-worthy which is why I kept it. It's just a Shimano 105 series so I can probably find one on Ebay for $20 or even less if I take a risk on a used one. But that's a pretty big risk, say 50/50 on getting a winner.
Back to the bike. When I got out there I was feeling pretty good so I jumped off 512 and cut around the side/back of Allen road on a connecting street I had never ridden before. It was only a mile or so but it was a really gorgeous road. From there on it felt an even better ride. I climbed Allen then headed back home, opting to go through the Millington Gorge instead of the usual up and over the hill. Ended up with a 1:02 ride time.
I think I was lethargic getting on the bike today because the prospect of riding 60 minutes of swamp or 512 is boring. There's not a lot you can do with 60 minutes so it's hard to get excited about that kind of ride. Today's ride was nice. Perhaps I just need to be more creative. Somehow I've got it in my head that if I go out for any less than 90 minutes I'm wasting my time. I think too much.
One of my old Rutgers football buddies, FatCat, commented yesterday:
"Norm, I actually read your blog regularly but mostly because you are a good writer and I get my exercise vicariously through you. That's about all I have to add as my bike is rusting away in the shed right now. Oh, and you're G... never mind."
Hmmm, I wonder what he was going to say. Great? Garfield? Grandiloquent? No matter, I'm just happy to hear you still read. I figure you were one of the guys I killed with the bike topics. I would understand if that were the case. Even my wife stopped reading which is expected. She used to read when I talked about non-bike stuff. But then who has time to read when you're chasing around a kid announcing DADADADADADAD all day? She sees a picture of herself and yells, "DADA!"
Later in the day Terren added:
"Hey Norm, feeling better thanks, although a weekend in the city probably dragged things out longer than necessary. I've been running, not biking, and haven't been out in a week now, which sucks. Cher got sick too, worse than me. Livy thankfully was spared, but her molars are coming in now, which is great fun. Good luck with your bike repair. I'm looking for a decent bike shop as I need some substantial repairs on my MB, but at this point sounds like you'd struggle to recommend one."
Funny our daughter seems to shrug it off too. She actually got me sick and then got over it a few days later while I lived in my little beat down box for a week. Sucks that Cheryl also got sick but at least the little one was spared. Teeth are fun. Julia now has 8, only 12 more to go until they start dropping like flies. Funny expression since I've never seen a fly drop out of the air. I guess it's more socially acceptable than "Drop like a fat lady's bombers."
As for your bike let me take a look at it first. I'm sure I can save you some scratch on some basic details like your drive train and truing up your wheels and so on - the basic junk that shops will ring you up for. If there's anything I can't find the time for I can tell you specifically what to ask for at the shop. But since you have one of those Old Skool bikes without suspension there's not a lot of complexity there. More than likely your whole drivetrain is worn but if it's all worn together you can get away leaving it like it is, especially since its not a bike you ride 5 times a week. You can probably get away with a new chain, rear cassette, and maybe middle front ring for $100 or less.
There's a guy I ride with who lives out your way so I will ask him where he goes. But you know how I feel about bike shops right now so be warned. I called my most local shop a week ago and asked how much the bearing job would cost. They replied, "I don't know." How can you not fucking know? Absurd. At least my regular shop was able to quote me $45.
Later in the evening Steve commented not once but twice! First about my comments/turmoil post:
"great post, norm. kind of like listener appreciation day when the deejay plays the listener requests..."
Thanks! But more importantly thanks for the comments. If nobody read this thing then I'll never keep it up. It's great to have an audience even if they do collectively think you're Garfield. Or is it Grandiloquent?
Then he commented on yesterday's post:
"norm, i thought the rule of thumb was to hyphenate when using a compound modifier. keep up the the good work, my most-excellent blogger."
Not sure that the rules are to be honest. So I could go like blue-green and I would be much more hip than if I were to use turquoise or teal? Or perhaps I could throw out turquoise-teal in my meetings today and see the overwhelmed expressions on everyone's faces? Hmmm, seems a little racy to me. Maybe I'll just use purple and throw them all for a loop.
OK, time to strap on the meat helmet and jump into the work fire. Enjoy your Thursday.
Today was another spin in the current fog engulfing New Jersey. This weather is oppressive. It doesn't usually last that long but when it's here it sucks. For the second day in a row I was swimming on the bike, sweating profusely at 5:30 in the morning. The subway stations are like steam chambers.
I wanted to bite off a bit more than yesterday so I set my alarm for 5:00 then hit snooze and then proceeded to sit on the couch after I did finally get up then went in the basement and adjusted the hub I'm working on then took out the recycle bin. By the time I got rolling it was 5:35 so my time limit was 1:10. I decided to just go out 512 for 30 minutes and turn around.
On the hub, the races are a hair buggy so it's not going to spin like butter. Getting it *juuuuuuust* right is always a pain in the ass but if you're not going to do that then why bother? Even Zinn says in The Book that he never gets it right on the first try. Too tight and it grinds. Too loose and, well, it's too loose. I don't think the hub is trash-worthy which is why I kept it. It's just a Shimano 105 series so I can probably find one on Ebay for $20 or even less if I take a risk on a used one. But that's a pretty big risk, say 50/50 on getting a winner.
Back to the bike. When I got out there I was feeling pretty good so I jumped off 512 and cut around the side/back of Allen road on a connecting street I had never ridden before. It was only a mile or so but it was a really gorgeous road. From there on it felt an even better ride. I climbed Allen then headed back home, opting to go through the Millington Gorge instead of the usual up and over the hill. Ended up with a 1:02 ride time.
I think I was lethargic getting on the bike today because the prospect of riding 60 minutes of swamp or 512 is boring. There's not a lot you can do with 60 minutes so it's hard to get excited about that kind of ride. Today's ride was nice. Perhaps I just need to be more creative. Somehow I've got it in my head that if I go out for any less than 90 minutes I'm wasting my time. I think too much.
One of my old Rutgers football buddies, FatCat, commented yesterday:
"Norm, I actually read your blog regularly but mostly because you are a good writer and I get my exercise vicariously through you. That's about all I have to add as my bike is rusting away in the shed right now. Oh, and you're G... never mind."
Hmmm, I wonder what he was going to say. Great? Garfield? Grandiloquent? No matter, I'm just happy to hear you still read. I figure you were one of the guys I killed with the bike topics. I would understand if that were the case. Even my wife stopped reading which is expected. She used to read when I talked about non-bike stuff. But then who has time to read when you're chasing around a kid announcing DADADADADADAD all day? She sees a picture of herself and yells, "DADA!"
Later in the day Terren added:
"Hey Norm, feeling better thanks, although a weekend in the city probably dragged things out longer than necessary. I've been running, not biking, and haven't been out in a week now, which sucks. Cher got sick too, worse than me. Livy thankfully was spared, but her molars are coming in now, which is great fun. Good luck with your bike repair. I'm looking for a decent bike shop as I need some substantial repairs on my MB, but at this point sounds like you'd struggle to recommend one."
Funny our daughter seems to shrug it off too. She actually got me sick and then got over it a few days later while I lived in my little beat down box for a week. Sucks that Cheryl also got sick but at least the little one was spared. Teeth are fun. Julia now has 8, only 12 more to go until they start dropping like flies. Funny expression since I've never seen a fly drop out of the air. I guess it's more socially acceptable than "Drop like a fat lady's bombers."
As for your bike let me take a look at it first. I'm sure I can save you some scratch on some basic details like your drive train and truing up your wheels and so on - the basic junk that shops will ring you up for. If there's anything I can't find the time for I can tell you specifically what to ask for at the shop. But since you have one of those Old Skool bikes without suspension there's not a lot of complexity there. More than likely your whole drivetrain is worn but if it's all worn together you can get away leaving it like it is, especially since its not a bike you ride 5 times a week. You can probably get away with a new chain, rear cassette, and maybe middle front ring for $100 or less.
There's a guy I ride with who lives out your way so I will ask him where he goes. But you know how I feel about bike shops right now so be warned. I called my most local shop a week ago and asked how much the bearing job would cost. They replied, "I don't know." How can you not fucking know? Absurd. At least my regular shop was able to quote me $45.
Later in the evening Steve commented not once but twice! First about my comments/turmoil post:
"great post, norm. kind of like listener appreciation day when the deejay plays the listener requests..."
Thanks! But more importantly thanks for the comments. If nobody read this thing then I'll never keep it up. It's great to have an audience even if they do collectively think you're Garfield. Or is it Grandiloquent?
Then he commented on yesterday's post:
"norm, i thought the rule of thumb was to hyphenate when using a compound modifier. keep up the the good work, my most-excellent blogger."
Not sure that the rules are to be honest. So I could go like blue-green and I would be much more hip than if I were to use turquoise or teal? Or perhaps I could throw out turquoise-teal in my meetings today and see the overwhelmed expressions on everyone's faces? Hmmm, seems a little racy to me. Maybe I'll just use purple and throw them all for a loop.
OK, time to strap on the meat helmet and jump into the work fire. Enjoy your Thursday.
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